After a 70 mile day we're less than a day's ride north of Amsterdam. It was mostly cloudy with a few showers on the ride today with a strong breeze out of the NNW. Fortunately it was mostly a cross or quartering tail wind. One of the highlights was an 18 mile dike separating a huge man made lake from the ocean. Since a good portion of the country is at or below mean sea level the Dutch have to be clever in managing the flow of water out. When the tide is low they let water flow out, when the tide is high they close the gates.
Tonight is in Alkmaar. Once again we seem to have found a local festival and the party is underway. A good thing about spending many hours on the bike is that sleeping is usually not a problem, even when it's noisy. We took advantage of the extensive Dutch bike route system again today, as well as the Garmin 800. Both have proved to be very valuable.
Tomorrow after breakfast we head south to Amsterdam for a 2 night stay and I'm sure a few new adventures.
Your trip sounds wonderful ... many of the Europeans I have talked with over the past few years mention the extensive network of bike paths. Would it not be wonderful if we in the U.S. had a similar riding network.
ReplyDeleteI am in South Dakota, and plan on doing some riding in the Mount Rushmore area. Have been driving for the past five days ... what a horrid way to travel.
Randy - yes, the bike route system is just remarkable. The attitudes are so different it's hard to imagine how we could ever get there. Riding and cold beer every day... :-). Steve
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